Kargil Vijay Diwas commemorates the victory in the 1999 war with Pakistan that began on 3 May and was brought to its conclusion on 26 July.

From a strategic standpoint, Kargil is noted as being one of the most recent instances of high-altitude warfare in mountainous terrain — something that usually provides a major challenge to both sides.

The Kargil was was also one of the very few instances of direct, conventional warfare between nuclear states.